The University of New Mexico hosts a talk titled, Ukraine and the Threat of Nuclear War on Friday, Oct. 21 in Woodward Hall on UNM’s main campus at 8 p.m. featuring noted MIT Professor Emeritus Ted Postol. The talk is free and open to the public.
The risk of an accidental nuclear war is a growing, extreme danger as the Russian-Ukrainian war continues. The information received by national leaders from their nation’s radar and space-based early warning systems is not nearly as clear and unambiguous as what most people believe it to be. This reality is further complicated by the fact that many professionals in technical support roles for leaders are not true experts with the appropriate technical knowledge. Instead, they are placed in roles as advisors for bureaucratic or political reasons.
The speaker will share some detailed anecdotal observations from his career that despite apparent government efforts, those in the highest levels of the US government may not be receiving the most accurate technical information to support sound decision-making during a crisis.
Postol is a professor emeritus of Science, Technology, and International Security at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In addition to his faculty position at MIT, Postol has served as the principal advisor to the Chief of Naval Operations on ICBM/SLBM vulnerability, including the Air Force Closely Spaced Based (CSB) MX deployment, Defense Against Ballistic Missile Technologies, applications of Navy and Air Force weapons systems in US nuclear war planning, and Navy requirements for reentry systems, penetration aids, targeting and SLBM operational concepts.
Responsibilities included monitoring developments in arms control negotiations, Soviet and U.S. ballistic missile defense systems, strategic anti-submarine warfare, strategic command, control and communications, and advanced sensor technologies. Duties also involved participation and/or reviews of activities within The Joint Chiefs of Staff, The Strategic Systems Projects Office, The Defense Nuclear Agency, and The Strategic Submarine Division (in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations).
Postol received his undergraduate degree in physics and his Ph.D. in nuclear engineering from MIT. Postol worked at Argonne National Laboratory, where he studied the microscopic dynamics and structure of liquids and disordered solids using neutron, X-ray, and light scattering techniques, along with molecular dynamics simulations. He also worked at the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment, where he studied methods of basing the MX missile. He later worked as a scientific advisor to the Chief of Naval Operations. After leaving the Pentagon, Postol helped to build a program at Stanford University to train mid-career scientists to study weapons technology in relation to defense and arms control policy.
Postol has been recognized in various circles involving his work on national security issues. In 1990, Postol received the Leo Szilard Prize from the American Physical Society for "incisive technical analysis of national security issues that [have] been vital for informing the public policy debate.” In 1995, he received the Hilliard Roderick Prize from the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 2001, he received the Norbert Wiener Award from Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility for "uncovering numerous and important false claims about missile defenses." In 2016, the Federation of American Scientists awarded Postol their annual Richard L. Garwin Award, "that recognizes an individual who, through exceptional achievement in science and technology, has made an outstanding contribution toward the benefit of mankind.
The talk is sponsored by the UNM Department of Physics and Astronomy.